Background
The Institute of Process and Particle Engineering together with the spin-off company SimVantage successfully are developing simulation and AI tools for industrial-scale bioprocesses that are already used around the world.
We are proposing a master thesis to model the pH distribution inside a stirred tank (bio-) reactor. pH has significant impact on product quality, viable cell density and titer. The project includes the modelling of the buffer systems inside the fermentation broth or cell culture media. The fluid flow field and the distribution of substance inside the reactor is already available in the software. The task of your master thesis is to calculate the pH value based in the concentrations in every part of the reactor.
Your work will have major impact on the capabilities of current simulation tools and will be implemented in industrial projects.
Tasks
Expected Results
Start: ANYTIME
Contact: Univ. Prof. Dr. Johannes Khinast, +43 316 873 30400, khinastnoSpam@tugraz.at
The Institute of Process and Particle Engineering, in collaboration with the spin-off SimVantage, is developing simulation and AI tools for the design and optimization of industrial bioprocessing units. Disk stack centrifuges are widely used in biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturing for continuous solid–liquid separation, such as harvesting cells or clarifying fermentation broth. However, scaleup and scaledown pose massive problems.
This master thesis focuses on developing a computational model to simulate the separation performance of a disk stack centrifuge. The objective is to predict the spatial and temporal distribution of particles and the efficiency of separation under varying operational conditions. Flow fields and geometry representations are already available in the existing simulation software. Your task will be to integrate particle transport and sedimentation modeling into this framework.
You will be part of an internationally recognized research group and company!
Start: Anytime
To dedicated students of chemical and pharmaceutical engineering or chemical and process engineering
Objective
In recent years, more and more pharmaceutical companies have been looking to implement continuous manufacturing processes in their production. Benefits such as consistent and high product quality, accelerated scale-up and more efficient operation are driving this trend.
However, designing and conceptualising a continuous manufacturing plant is a challenging task as all the components need to work together seamlessly. In order to achieve maximum efficiency from all process equipment, their maximum throughput should be matched throughout the production line. Aware of this requirement, major equipment suppliers have developed dedicated continuous manufacturing lines with different capabilities.
The aim of this design practice is to establish a selection guide for either complete continuous manufacturing lines or lines composed of equipment from different suppliers. In the context of this project we aim especially for the design of modular manufactruing lines offering a high degree of flexibility when it comes to different routes of production. Explicitly the line should allow easy changes betwean products manufactured by direct compression or wet granulation as well as integration of different blending steps. An example is provided in the flowsheet below, showing a line where the granulation line simply feeds into the direct compression line. Hence, the selection guide should take into account equipment flexibility, compatibility, maximum throughputs, granulation capabilities, availability of PAT tools, etc.
Within the framework of this design practice we offer the following
If you are interested in writing your thesis at the interface between university research and industry/ business and to contribute to the optimization of product and process development in the pharmaceutical industry, please contact us indicating the reference number.
Contact Dr. Andreas Kottlan, Senior Scientist Inffeldgasse 13, 8010 Graz, Austria tel. +43 316 873 30980, andreas.kottlannoSpam@rcpe.at
The Institute of Process and Particle Engineering is a world leader in the development of pharmaceutical products and processes.
In this context, we are offering a paid master thesis where the student is employed at an external company.
The goal of the master thesis is to create the basis for product development, focusing on a novel drug delivery system where the medicine is contained in a flavored gel, either as solution, emulsion or suspension. Drug delivery occurs via breaking a seal of a snap-package and sucking out the flavored gel. Target patient populations includes:
Requirements
What we offer:
Start: Spring 2021
Contact: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Johannes Khinast, khinastnoSpam@tugraz.at
The Institute of Process and Particle Engineering is a world leader in the development of simulation tools for industrial-scale bioprocessing units, funded by the Spin-Off Fellowship Program of the FFG. For example, our current code can model processes in large-scale bioreactors, up to 200m3 . We are therefore offering a student job with the possibility to do a master thesis with the goal of creating a comparison algorithm for bioreactors. The objective is to find the influencing factors that determine the productivity difference between reactors. This should be done by comparing reactors of different scales and for reactors at the same scale but different geometry and should aid scale up or process transfer processes in the industry.
Start: Fall 2020
Contact Dr. Christian Witz 0316 873 30416 christian.witznoSpam@tugraz.at